Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Nabokov, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Nabokov, Vladimir vlädēˈmĭr näbôˈkŏf [key], 1899–1977, Russian-American author, b. St. Petersburg, Russia. He emigrated to England after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and graduated from Cam...

Bale, John

(Encyclopedia)Bale, John, 1495–1563, English dramatist and clergyman. An ardent proponent of the Reformation, he used the stage as a vehicle for his views. His most famous play, King John (written c.1535), shows ...

Jowett, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Jowett, Benjamin jōˈət, jouˈət [key], 1817–93, English educator and Greek scholar, b. London. Jowett was a Church of England clergyman, master of Balliol College, Oxford (1870–93), and vice c...

Frye, Northrop

(Encyclopedia)Frye, Northrop nôrˈthrəp [key], 1912–91, Canadian literary critic, b. Quebec. In 1936 he was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Canada. In 1948 he was appointed professor of English a...

Cursor Mundi

(Encyclopedia)Cursor Mundi kûrˈsôr mŭnˈdī [key], a long religious epic in Middle English relating the history of the world as recorded in the Old and New Testaments. This anonymous poem (written c.1300) is a ...

euphuism

(Encyclopedia)euphuism yo͞oˈfyo͞oĭzəm [key], in English literature, a highly elaborate and artificial style that derived from the Euphues (1578) of John Lyly and that flourished in England in the 1580s. It was...

inn, lodging

(Encyclopedia)inn, in Great Britain, any hotel, public house, tavern, or coffeehouse where lodging is provided. In American usage, the inn is generally a small rural lodging house for transients. Among the earliest...

Hurd, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hurd, Richard, 1720–1808, English theologian, editor, and critic. From 1781 until his death he was bishop of Worcester. His best-known works are Moral and Political Dialogues (1757) and Letters on C...

Shuster, George Nauman

(Encyclopedia)Shuster, George Nauman, 1894–1977, American educator, b. Lancaster, Wis., grad. Notre Dame (B.A., 1915; M.A., 1920) and Columbia (Ph.D., 1940). He was head of the department of English at Notre Dame...

Eban, Abba

(Encyclopedia)Eban, Abba äbˈə ēˈbən [key], 1915–2002, Israeli statesman, b. Cape Town, South Africa. He was educated at Cambridge, where upon graduation he became (1938) a lecturer in Middle Eastern languag...